This short report explores the quality of the care process for children with intellectual disabilities. A Delphi procedure was used to identify a set of indicators for the quality of the care process reflecting the perspectives of the care providers, the parents and the experts. The sample consisted of 59 individuals involved in different ways in…

This study focuses on the social position and the degree of being bullied of pupils with behaviour problems fully included in regular education and on their teachers' assessments on social integration and bullying. The study sample consisted of 25 9- to 12-year-old pupils with behaviour problems and their peers without special needs participating…

The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of parents in Sweden of children with special education needs, including whether perceptions varied with regard to the child's age, diagnosis or placement. The parents' general perception of their degree of effort to influence their child's education, as well as their perceived degree of influence,…

According to Kuhn, a paradigm is shared by the people who belong to the same scientific field, and a mature science is governed by a single paradigm that sets the standard for legitimate work within the particular science. In the field of special education research, scientists have used the concept of paradigm to explain how they approach the area…

The results of a study examining the psychometric quality of a pictorial scale to measure perceived physical competence, perceived cognitive competence and perceived social acceptance by peers and caregivers in individuals with intellectual disabilities are reported. The scale was administered twice to 100 subjects. The stability of the scale…

This paper presents a course of research into the beliefs of class teachers concerning the scholastic integration of children with disabilities. In the current situation in Italy, due to limited specialist training, the attitudes that teachers develop can constitute an obstacle to the full realization of scholastic integration. Of the 23 teachers…

This paper reports a study to investigate the views of early childhood educators working in a range of early childhood settings in four European countries, Denmark, Greece, Italy and the UK. Recent research into European perspectives on early education, special educational needs and inclusion is reviewed highlighting: a multinational call for…

A self-study process is outlined for engaging teacher educators in collegial conversations about the effective use of technology in special education teacher preparation. Five discussion topics are outlined: (1) professional standards; (2) current practice snapshots; (3) visions of technology integration; (4) utilizing a technology integration…

Eighty-nine special education Web sites were evaluated for accessibility errors. Most (73 percent) special education home pages had accessibility problems, and the majority of these errors severely limited access for individuals with disabilities. The majority of the errors can be easily corrected. Recommendations and methods for improving…

A study explored effects of a multimedia-based anchored instruction intervention on student/teacher interactions in a social studies classroom with 19 eighth graders, 9 with mild disabilities. Overall, instruction became more interactive as observational and interview data indicated a twofold increase in the number of daily student/teacher…

Two groups of preschool and young school-aged children (n=9) with severe speech impairment received individual phonological awareness instruction utilizing two different methods: graphic symbols or graphic symbols with synthetic speech output. Children who used synthetic speech output demonstrated marked increases in natural speech production.…

A study investigated the effectiveness of utilizing audiographic conferencing technology to provide enrichment programs for 30 gifted students in Western Australia. The interactive features of the technology provided the possibilities for task-related collaboration and gave students the opportunity to share, discuss, and evaluate concepts, thereby…

This article considers ways in which opportunities for children with special educational needs in England and Wales are being affected by current developments in post-compulsory education. The development of a Lifelong Learning Partnership by the Milton Keynes Council is used to illustrate how major developments affect local authorities.…

After interviews with seven English special needs assistants found that they lacked clear ideas about expectations and reported poor classroom communication, the assistants were attached to one subject area rather than to specific pupils. Results found the assistants all felt happier in their work and accepted as members of the team. (Author/CR)

A study that examined action plans of 60 British special schools which had failed their inspections found school target-setting was almost universally not matching the expected criteria, monitoring and evaluation were frequently confused, and there was a wide variation in the support which schools gained from local authority advisers. (Author/CR)